Order Description
One of the drainage ponds at a manufacturing facility has been impacted with petroleum hydrocarbons. There is a visible layer of petroleum hydrocarbons on the water in the pond. Drainage ponds were constructed within the manufacturing facility to collect any wastewater or other chemical which maybe accidentally spilled or released during the facility’s daily operations. Superficial drainage at the facility directs all spilled liquids into these drainage ponds. Water from this pond is discharged to a nearby creek, periodically, as needed. Surface runoff through spillage areas, after a rain event, is a major concern at this facility due to the potential of pollutant discharge from the ponds into a nearby creek. Note that there are water discharge restrictions by the state and Federal regulators on pollutant levels that can be discharged into creeks, streams and rivers. Under these circumstances, what steps would you, as the Safety and Environmental Manager, take to clean up the contamination from the pond in order to minimize the potential of pollutant discharge into the creek? What steps would you take to minimize pollutant discharge potential and minimize, or eliminate, threat to human health and the environment? Consider all reasonable scenarios in this spill remediation scenario.